Manoj Sane, who allegedly killed his 32-year-old live-in partner Saraswati Vaidya and hacked her body into several pieces before boiling some of them for ease of disposal in their Mira Road apartment in Mumbai, did not look scared or anything of the sort, said the owner of a shop where Sane had visited to get his tree-cutting chainsaw repaired on June 4. The same chainsaw was suspected to be used to chop up Saraswati’s body, NDTV reported.
The shopowner of Karthika Enterprises in Borivali told the news channel that the chainsaw’s chain had slipped. “He did not look scared or anything of the sort. He was calm and waited at the shop till the repair was complete,” the shopowner, who did not wish to be named, was quoted as saying.
The shopowner added that Sane might have purchased the chainsaw from his shop when he was away. “We do sell chainsaws like the one Sane had. There wasn’t much wrong with the machine. Just the chain had slipped,” he said, adding that he did not spot any marks on the chainsaw while repairing it.
Police officials from Nayanagar police station said they have recovered most of the victim’s remains.
Chainsaw used to hack her body into many parts
Sane told the police that after killing Vaidya, he had used the electric saw to hack her body into many parts. He had managed to dispose of some of Vaidya’s remains. After his arrest on Wednesday, he offered multiple stories to the police for Vaidya’s death.
Sane first claimed that she had died by suicide on June 4 by consuming poison and fearing that he might be charged with abetment to suicide, he tried to get rid of the body instead of alerting either the neighbours or the police. Subsequently, however, he told the police that the two had had a fight as he suspected her of infidelity, and he stabbed her with a knife and then used the electric saw to cut her up.
Married or not?
According to the police, Vaidya gave different versions of her relationship with Sane to different people. She told her sisters that they were wed at a temple a few years ago while she told her other acquaintances that Sane was her maternal uncle. Police have not recovered any proof of their marriage.
The accused, arrested on Thursday, also allegedly told the interrogators he was HIV-positive and never had any physical relationship with Vaidya. “The couple did not register their marriage, but they had married by performing rituals in a temple,” said deputy commissioner of police Jayant Bajbale of Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai Virar commissionerate, citing the statements given by three sisters of the deceased.
Vaidya had informed her sisters about the marriage, but since there was a considerable age gap between them, the couple did not make their wedding public, he said.
Who was Saraswati Vaidya?
The victim studied up to Class 10 at an ‘ashram’ school (school for orphans) in Ahmednagar district of western Maharashtra and came to Mumbai to reside with her relatives after turning 18, the police said.
After the couple met, Sane had arranged a job of a salesperson for her.
Gory details emerged after the woman’s death. On Wednesday (June 7), the police found Vaidya’s body parts, some cooked in a pressure cooker and even roasted, inside the rented flat of the couple who were staying there since the last three years.
Sane kept the woman’s chopped body parts in three buckets in their flat and tried to suppress the stench by spraying room freshener, his neighbours said on Thursday. The crime came to light after neighbours alerted the police about a foul smell coming out of the flat.
(With inputs from Megha Sood in Mumbai)
